The ex-White House lawyer convicted of trying to kill his wife in a brutal attack in their New Canaan, Conn., mansion was sentenced Thursday to 15 years behind bars.
John Michael Farren was found guilty in July of repeatedly beating his wife, Mary Farren White, with a metal flashlight four years ago while their two young children were sleeping in their bedrooms nearby.
He had faced up to 50 years in prison, but Superior Court Judge Richard Comerford handed down a much lighter sentence.
The judge denied Farren’s request to post a bond while he appeals his conviction, The Stamford Advocate reported.
Comerford said Farren’s ex — who made an emotional appeal to deny her attacker’s bond — would be in danger if he were set free.
“That woman and her children are at risk. He will be held without bond pending appeal,” the judge said, pointing at the victim.
Farren — deputy White House counsel under President George W. Bush from 2007 to 2009 — was convicted in July on an attempted murder charge.
After the verdict, he turned himself in and was being held on $1 million bond.
The vicious attack came two days after his wife served him with divorce papers.
Mary Farren White testified during trial that he punched her, slammed her head against the floor and strangled her before grabbing the flashlight and beating her about the head and face.
“I felt like I was dying,” she said at trial. “I was in incredible pain.”
She was eventually able to flee the house along with the two children and sought help from a neighbor.